Corporate Social Responsibility in Itera

As a company, we are a part of the society, and have a responsibility to contribute positively. This is communicated through our vision "MAKE A DIFFERENCE", which is a powerful imperative tightly connected to our brand.

Why is CSR important to us?

Our vision commits us in several perspectives: in our relationship with our employees, how we carry out our work, what we deliver to our customers, how we manage the relationship with our shareholders and with society in general.

Positive effects on employee satisfaction

We believe that our employees would like to be a part of an organization that engages actively in contributing to society. We believe that keeping our vision and business values as integral parts of our everyday life contributes to engagement, meaning and involvement. In addition, positive attention and reputation could build internal pride and loyalty.

Growth and profitability

We believe that companies with an awareness of contributing positively to society are more successful than companies with an unbalanced focus on profitability. A reputation as a responsible company, compliant with legal requirements are prerequisite to build solid customer relations and to attract new employees.

1 Our structural approach to CSR

Our different initiatives and CSR related activities are aimed at the society, customers, employees and the environment.

1.1 Customers

Many of our customers fill important functions and roles in society. This gives us the opportunity to contribute to make a difference through our assignments and deliveries. Some examples:

The Sexual Assault Center (overgrepsmottaket ved legevakten): Sexual abuse is a social problem that affects both women and men, adolescents and adults. It is assumed that many victims do not tell anyone about what has happened to them, often because they are not aware of the possibilities provided by the support services. Itera developed an awareness campaign to increase knowledge and attention to how to seek help. The campaign has been run for two years as posters and boards as well as an animation in social media.

For Norad, efficient solutions for facilitating the day-to-day activities are crucial for being able to devote as much time and attention as possible to their important development and aid work. Itera developed efficient tools.

Norwegian Environment Agency/Miljødirektoratet: Norway has a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 15 to 17 million tons by 2020. An important task for Miljødirektoratet is to analyze which climate measures will reduce emissions, and what the measures will cost. Itera developed an analysis production solution to help Miljødirektoratet to make the right priorities.

Oslo Municipality: 100,000 Norwegian men and women have served in international operations in over 40 countries. Most veterans experience unpleasant post-war stress reactions. Itera has developed a campaign to increase knowledge about the "Veteran phone", Oslo Municipality's crisis and counseling line for defense veterans and personnel of humanitarian and civil organizations who have participated in international operations and missions.

Over the past years, we have worked with social and environmental issues through our reporting advisory services for major businesses such as Orkla, Norsk Tipping, NSB, Yara, Norske Skog, Telenor, Norad, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NorgesGruppen, MøllerGruppen, DNB, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Cermaq and Cargill EWOS.

2.2 Society

Itera seeks to contribute to the positive development of those areas of society which are most related to our activities.

2.2.1 Educational Initiatives: cooperation with universitiesFrom 2010, Itera Ukraine has conducted academic courses and project practice for students from the Software Engineering Faculty of "National Aviation University", a leading Ukrainian university. Through the cooperation with the university, we are actively influencing national educational standards. Itera employees are active speakers and judges at student conferences and competitions. In addition, we have a cooperation with Nord University (Nord Universitet), where Itera employees give lectures for students from their International Business program.

2.2.2 Integrity and general legislationItera complies with the national legislation of all the countries in which it operates. All employees are encouraged to disclose internally any cases in which they have concerns with regard to the Group's integrity or where they are aware that laws or regulations are being breached. Employees can make such disclosures confidentially if they so wish, and the Group will not take adverse action against whistle-blowers, regardless of whether the content of the disclosure is found to be true or false.

2.2.3 CorruptionItera does not tolerate any form of corruption. The Group is exposed through its nearshoring activities in Ukraine to a certain level of corruption risk as the country has a low score on the Transparency International Corruption Index. Itera has therefore decided to protect the Group from this risk by not delivering services to the public or private sector in Ukraine where the problem of corruption is principally found, and by only exporting its services to countries where western business standards are the norm.

In addition, the Group has produced guidelines for all employees concerning the acceptance of gifts and other benefits or advantages. The Group's Code of Business Ethics can be consulted for further information at itera.no/investor-relations.

2.2.4 Code of Business EthicsItera's Code of Business Ethics describes the standards that apply in the relationships with customers, suppliers, public authorities and employees. The Code addresses impartiality, conflicts of interests, relations with media, insider trading and relevant financial interests of a personal nature. The Code of Business Ethics applies to all employees in Itera.

2.2.5 Corporate GovernanceItera complies with the Norwegian Code of Practice for Corporate Governance. There are no significant deviations between the Code of Practice and the way it is implemented in the company.

1.2.6 Community Involvement

Itera consists of many socially engaged people. It is natural for us to contribute when and where we have the opportunity, through initiatives such as ice bucket challenge, Movember etc., Christmas gifts to customers in the shape of donations to charity or through ongoing commitments to initiators that truly make a difference in our society.

Itera + Nyttig Arbeid: Itera cooperates with the City of Oslo's initiative Nyttig Arbeid ("Useful Work"). Nyttig Arbeid is a job initiative for patients on medically assisted drug treatment and others with drug related challenges. Itera has, among other things, donated gently used office furniture and computers and has also helped upgrade Nyttig Arbeid's web pages. Nyttig Arbeid consists of an amazingly inspiring and grateful group of people who spread smiles and enthusiasm, and the cooperation is a source of mutual joy in every way.

Itera + the Blood Bank: Itera encourages all employees to donate blood. In 2014 we recruited large parts of our organization to the Blood Bank's register. We also challenged our competitors to do the same in a video in social media.

2.3 Employees

2.3.1 EqualityItera regards equality as important. Women and men should be given the same remuneration and the same personal and professional development opportunities. We seek to ensure that employees of both genders are able to experience a good work-life balance, and offer maternity and paternity leave arrangements, home office solutions, and part-time positions to support this.

It is a goal to increase the share of female employees. 37 percent of the employees in 2015 were women as compared to 34 percent in 2014.

2.3.2 DiversityItera regards diversity as a strength of the organization and seek to recruit, develop and retain the best employees regardless of nationality, gender or ethnicity. As a consequence of our approach, we have achieved a solid diversity. Many nationalities are represented in our company, which is enriching our corporate culture.

2.3.3 Human rightsItera is committed to ensuring internationally recognised human rights, such as those defined in the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other UN conventions, are respected. No-one shall in any way contribute to an individual's human rights being breached or circumvented. The Group places special emphasis on ensuring that employees' fundamental rights are respected. Itera has operations in countries outside Scandinavia, specifically Ukraine and Slovakia, and considers that the establishment of these workplaces has contributed to increasing the living standards of its employees in these countries.

2.3.4 Employee satisfactionEmployee satisfaction is measured twice a year, with the main survey taking place in the autumn and a supplementary survey taking place in spring. The survey provides a good overview of general trends and local differences. The survey measures important areas such as work-life balance, professional development, workload and adherence to Itera's values. The results of the survey are shared with all employees. After the main survey, all employees are able to participate in deciding which areas should be prioritised and what should be implemented the following year in order to improve the results further. Measures that are considered likely to benefit more than one business area are implemented under the direction of the Group's HR function. Measures that are more locally targeted are carried out by the department or division in question under the direction of the relevant manager. The supplementary spring survey assesses whether the measures that were selected are having the desired effect, or whether changes should be made ahead of the next main survey. The 2016 employee satisfaction survey shows that employees find Itera an enjoyable place to work.

2.4 Environment

Reducing our environmental impact is an integral part of our CSR program. Our offices are Eco-certified (Miljøfyrtårn), which means that we have met and documented a number of requirements in areas such as work environment, procurement, energy, transport and waste management. Miljøfyrtårn is Norway's most widely used certificate for businesses who want to document their environmental performance and demonstrate social responsibility.

We have several international customers and partners as well as own offices across borders, and seek to limit physical travelling as much as possible to reduce our CO2 footprint as much as possible. Instead, we encourage electronic communication and videoconferencing.

Itera is part of a larger value chain, and have mapped our suppliers to find out how and to what extent they follow up their environmental responsibility. Going forward we will continue working to reduce our environmental impact, and we encourage all our partners and suppliers to do the same.

We are not a production/industrial company and utilize and recycle only a limited volume of packaging. Itera is a member of Green Point Norway.

Our offices are situated in modern and environmentally optimized premises in Nydalen, where public transportation is very easily accessible. The owner of the building Avantor is the first private real estate company that was environmentally certified according to ISO 14001.